|
· Man City 1 Spurs 0 - 10th May 2011
· Spurs 1 Man City 5 - 28th August, 2011
· This week - last year
· What happened in the Premiership in Match 22 2010-11
· See the current injury list for all Premiership Teams
· All the Spurs Stats you could hope for here! THFC6061 Sports Stats
Full Record of Spurs -v- Manchester City
Prem Pl W D L For-Ag Pts
Home 15 10 3 2 22 -15 33
Away 14 9 2 3 19 -13 29
======================================
Total(Prem) 29 19 5 5 41 -28 62
======================================
Football Lge
Home(Div 1) 46 21 13 12 84 -59 58
Away(Div 1) 46 7 11 28 39 -90 24
======================================
Total(Div 1) 92 28 24 40 123 -149 82
======================================
Football Lge
Home(Div 2) 2 0 1 1 2 - 3 1
Away(Div 2) 2 0 0 2 0 - 3 0
======================================
Total(Div 2) 4 0 1 3 2 - 6 1
======================================
Total(Prem) 29 19 5 5 41 -28 62
Total(Div 1) 92 28 24 40 123 -149 82
Total(Div 2) 4 0 1 3 2 - 6 1
======================================
Grand Total 125 47 30 48 166-183 145
======================================
Last Six Premiership results:-
Man City
Man City 1-0 Arsenal
Man City 3-0 Stoke
West Brom 0-0 Man City
S'derland 1-0 Man City
Man City 3-0 Liverpool
Wigan 0-1 Man City
Spurs
Spurs 1-1 Chelsea
Norwich 0-2 Spurs
Swansea 1-1 Spurs
Spurs 1-0 West Brom
Spurs 2-0 Everton
Spurs 1-1 Wolves
Pos P W D L F-A GD Pts
1 Man City 21 16 3 2 57 16 41 51
3 Spurs 21 14 4 3 39 21 18 46
Let's invoke the Spirit of 81!
All this week, on Twitter, we've been invoking the Spirit of 81, and I've been offering references to some glorious Spurs moments over the past 10 years in matches away to Manchester City. These started with the last match Spurs played at Maine Road, and ended with the game in which Peter Crouch headed us, and not City, into the Champions League
Statistically, City are still one of our favourite opponents in the Premier League, as we average 2.13 points per game against them over 29 games. Even against Everton in 39 games we have only managed 1.82 points per game.
Some might say (a little Oasis link there!) that statistics count for little, and perhaps they are right. However, sometimes they help to draw lines. For example, that 1-0 win nearly two years ago completed our last league double over City. Mark Hughes was sacked not long after we beat them 3-0 at The Lane in December 2009.
In just over two years Sheik Mansour's half a billion pound investment(?) has led to a radical change in the team, and at last improved results by City to the point they even won a trophy last season. Now they lead the table, with a fantastic record of wins, and goals scored, together with a great goal difference. of course they are favourites to win the title. Things haven't gone as well as they would have hoped of course, what with their exit from the Champions League, and recent Cup defeats to Man Utd and to Liverpool. This latter defeat was in the first leg of the Carling Cup semi-final, and Roberto Mancini must keep half an eye on the second leg to be played next Wednesday.
In relative terms this has to be the best time of the season to be playing City, who will be looking for their first Premier League double over Spurs. Both the Toure brothers are in Africa, and of course Yaya is very much a key member of this all-star side. Vincent Kompany is still suspended of course, and Micah Richards missed the Wigan game with a hamstring problem. It remains to be seen if he is fit, but he too is having a great season. Balotelli is the only other known injury doubt for City, as he has had an ankle injury, but he may well be fit for our game.
City of course have a luxurious choice of attacking players, with any two or three from Balotelli, Silva, Dzeko, Aguero, and Nasri to choose from. Led by Dzeko, who had a hey-day of four of City's five goals as they ultimately embarrassed us in August, we know that they have great riches in the attacking area. Yet they struggled to put lowly Wigan away on Monday night; they couldn't beat West Brom away; and they lost at the very last moment in that dramatic conclusion at Sunderland.
All the above negatives arose in away games of course, and at home City have been unbeatable, having won all 10 of their league games. 6 teams have failed to score, and the other four managed just one goal in league matches at The Etihad. Spurs have an ultra formidable task ahead of them, and they'll have to do it without their top scoring league striker, Emmanuel Adebayor, still being partially paid by Sunday's opposition.
Spurs are still better equipped to deal with the potential City onslaught this time though, with Scott Parker available, and Luka Modric firing on all cylinders, which was not the case when we lost 5-1 in August. I feel quite embarrassed at what I wrote about Luka after that game, but it was how I felt at the time. Luka was my favourite existing Spurs player, but the summer transfer saga has forever tainted that opinion, much as I admire his current form for Spurs.
Can we get a result on Sunday? It should be an exciting and quite open game, with Spurs capable of offering the very best of skill on the counter-attack. I still maintain that the City defence, particularly without Kompany, has its frailties and can be pierced. Harry Redknapp surely has to stick with his first choice midfield of Lennon, Parker, Modric and Bale, but he'll have a decision regarding his front men. Pavlyuchenko will be the only potential target man, so does he or Defoe partner Van der Vaart? Or maybe Van der Vaart sits this one out on the bench.
Our defence, with Ledley King and Gallas not available, faces difficulty. I really feel that a draw would be a hell of a good result. If we manage that or get the dream win, then we will remain title contenders, otherwise we face a battle to hold onto that precious third place. I fear a 2-1 defeat.
Top of page | Index to 2011-12 Match Reports
| 
